Hotel hype has proved true in Miss-Lou

By Julie Cooper (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Wednesday, July 16, 2008

The mysterious voice that talks to Kevin Costner’s “Field of Dreams” character is highly over quoted.

“If you build it, he will come,” ranks No. 39 in the American Film Institute’s 100 most memorable American movie quotations, according to Wikipedia.

But over the years we have distorted that quote to better fit our purposes. “If you build it, they will come” applies to nearly every start-up business, every community recreation complex and, in the case of Natchez, it applies to hotels.

Last summer and fall the buzzword in Natchez and Vidalia was hotel.

The Hampton Inn and Country Inn & Suites were under construction. The Ramada renovations began. A Best Western began to clear land next to the bridge. And someone announced plans to put a Holiday Inn on the riverfront in Vidalia.

Three of those projects aren’t completed — and in the case of the Holiday Inn, begun — yet. But the Country Inn & Suites and the Hampton Inn have been open for several months.

The addition of those two hotels meant 205 new rooms in Natchez. An existing 831 rooms in Natchez and on the Vidalia riverfront remain.

So, this morning as the approximately 650 Lookin’ to the Future Conference attendees pull into town, we’ll be able to accommodate them.

And hardly anyone else.

The Hampton Inn is booked completely.

The Eola Hotel has a handful of rooms that came only as the result of cancellations.

Country Inn & Suites is booked.

Isle of Capri Hotel is booked.

Comfort Suites Riverfront, Vidalia has one room open.

The Days Inn in Natchez has just a few.

Some of the small hotels and motels located on the outskirts of town have plenty of vacancies, but these sites aren’t ideally located for the downtown tourist.

So, just like Kevin Costner, Natchez has learned “If you build it, they will come.”

But the group — composed of representatives from the Southern Christian Services for Children and Youth, Inc. and the Mississippi Department of Human Services — only comes once a year.

Who comes the rest of the year?

Well, two weeks ago it was the Sadie V. Thompson Era Reunion, which brought more than 500 attendees.

A week before that antiques dealers and shoppers flooded the town for the annual Natchez Antiques Show and Sale.

In the future, the National Guard Association for Mississippi will bring between 500 and 600 folks to town for a conference.

Delta Sigma Theta will bring 600 people and Natchez Council for Arts and Culture will bring 1,700 people.

Six hundred will come for a Key Club convention.

And the list goes on.

The moral of the story in “Field of Dreams” boiled down to following your dream.

For hotel developers in Natchez, the dream must have been great big talking dollar signs.

I was one of many doubters when hotel after hotel announced plans to build. It didn’t seem possible that we could need quite so many.

But 1,036 rooms won’t be enough when the Council for Arts and Culture meets.

Hotel developers study their markets before they invest their dollars, that’s for sure. For now, we’ll trust that they’ll keep building and people will keep coming.

The end result — though we may fuss over the traffic —is good for us all.

Julie Finley is the managing editor of The Natchez Democrat. She can be reached at 601-445-3551 or julie.finley@natchezdemocrat.com.